CIC-NCB: 100 Years of International Indigenous Relations

When Chief Deskaheh of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy travelled to the newly formed League of Nations to press for international recognition of indigenous rights in 1923, it created a precedent that the UN community now celebrates as the initial spark behind what is now the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP). Celebrating this, in 2023, the UN organized a centenary celebration in Geneva this year and invited the current Chief Deskaheh back.
To commemorate this 100-year journey, come join us on November 20th at the Global Centre for Pluralism to celebrate the past, present, and future of International Indigenous Affairs. To explore the past, Professor Jolene Rickard of Cornell University will explain the relevance of the original visit to Geneva in 1923. In honour of the present, the modern-day Chief Deskaheh will lead a panel, hosted by the CIC, in which he reports back on this event with the UN. Finally, looking to the future, Dr. Sheryl Lightfoot, Chair of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights on Indigenous Peoples and Professor at the University of British Colombia will discuss how the implementation of Canada’s new embrace of UNDRIP could offer an opportunity for Canada to approach the international presence of indigenous groups in a more enlightened manner than we did in 1923, when exiled the earlier Chief Deskaheh and cracked down on the Haudenosaunee Confederacy for their effrontery.
SPEAKERS
- Chief Deskaheh, Steve Jacobs, on behalf of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy
- Brain Francis, Senator; Co-Chair of the Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples
- Dr. Jolene Rickard, Cornell University
- Dr. Sheryl Lightfoot, Chair of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples